To throw or not to throw! (old bait)
- trapeaze
- Mar 16
- 2 min read
I've posted a few videos on my TrapEaze Facebook lately and one in particular generated a crazy amount of interest from around the world with 900K+ views!
Viewers from overseas who had no context of conservation in Aotearoa NZ couldn't understand why I would be "trapping rats in the woods" someone even asked if I was trapping rats to eat them! Needless to say, I did my best to explain our plight of introduced predators decimating our native wildlife in NZ.
I also got flack from people about how I was baiting my traps and why I would replace a good looking egg (it was in fact, rotten) and why I would throw it into the bush (because I'm not going to carry around 26 rotten eggs in my pack all day!)
As people's attention spans are so short and videos 'should be' 30sec long, it's impossible to explain the big picture as well as promote the TrapEaze tool.
My trapline takes all day to check. I drive for 40mins to get to the shipping container where the LUV (side by side quad) is kept and then it's another hour's drive approx 15km into the bush. Then my trapline is 3+ hours walk and then another hour back on the LUV etc. So a 6+ hour day to check my traps is no walk in the park so to speak!
And it means I need to make the most of being up there, which is to refresh the bait every time. It also means I'm not going to carry rotten eggs around with me all day that will inevitably crack in my pack!!
Another thing that riled people up was why I also threw away the rotten salted rabbit bait.... This I can understand, because in an ideal world, I would bag that old bait up and carry it out with me.
I've done that in the past but it ended up getting mixed up with the fresh bait and all became a big shambles. So I pick my battles, and my personal opinion is that I don't think a bit of old bait tossed away affects my catch rate - maybe it might even bring in predators closer to my traps?
But I understand that everyone has their own opinions - and that is OK! Variety is the not only the spice of life, but in my opinion, is what makes trapping successful - mixing it up.
Happy Trappin'
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